I'll Watch Over You
by Doctor.Uta
Summary: "You made a promise.  You will keep it, right?"  GaaHina R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_The Hyuuga are proud creatures, not even considered human, as the willingly let go of all emotions for the perfect porcelain masks that adorn their faces every day. They show no emotion, feel no emotion, yet they can see through your very soul and know everything you feel. Every one of them is tainted, cursed, doomed to bear the weight of the separation of the Main House and the Branch House. The very day that Hinata was born into this clan, she was cursed as well- cursed with the tainted Hyuuga hatred that runs in her veins. And now, at 12 years old and a very talented genin (although her family refuses to accept this, not seeing her for her, but as a failure of the clan), she still remains with the purity of an angel, not at all bothered by the resent from her family. No, they are no longer her family- they shunned her away and she gladly accepted her exile. For her only family is the one who stole her heart many years before. Little does she know, she has his held tightly in her grasp._

_But how was this little girl able to defy such a prestigious clan such as the Hyuuga clan? How was _she _of all people were to do such an incredible feat, an amazing achievement such as this one? The answer was simple: she wasn't alone. We may know the background of the Hyuuga clan, but why don't we explore the background of a certain blue haired white eyed Hyuuga: Hyuuga Hinata._

* * *

_"I'm g-going to miss y-you! W-what if we don't s-see each other? What if w-we f-forget each o-other? What if I c-can't k-keep our p-promise? Oh, Panda-kun, w-w-what do I d-do?"_

_Her hold around his torso tightened, she wept harder on his chest, she was at a loss. Her companion, the aforementioned "Panda-kun," stood there awkwardly, arms at his side as his eyes widened in shock and confusion. Said pale green eyes are outlined by the black rings of insomnia, hence his nickname. He knew that she would have to go, and yet he knows neither of what to do nor what to say. How can _he_- a demon, a terror throughout the lands- know how to comfort one who _should _be cowering in fear, who _should not_ be here, sobbing into his chest, _waiting _for his words to comfort her? So, with the best of his ability, he loosely wrapped his arms around her tiny body and plopped his head atop hers. A minute or so of silence occurred until Panda-kun, or Gaara, broke it:_

_"Don't cry. I don't know what to do if you don't stop."_

_Well, he _did _say something, albeit bluntly and blunderingly, and she _was _asking what she should do. She should just take it or leave it._

_She picked the right choice- her tiny (soon-to-be bloody, war-stained) fists rubbed at her eyes, willing away the many tears that want to escape. When her cheeks remain dry and no sniffles were heard, Gaara finally sighed of relief. He _really _didn't like her crying, she looked _so much_ better when she was smiling._

_Not that he likes her like that- cooties and all that._

_He resorted to thoughtful silence, trying to find words that will reassure her worries (and his, but he won't admit that). He continued to speak, "I don't know if we'll ever see each other again," he paused to listen to Hinata as she almost, _almost_, started to cry again, and when she didn't, he went on, "It's not like I'll ever forget you, you are really hard to forget, by the way, and if I can't forget you, I'll _never_ forget that promise."_

_He hesitantly mumbled almost inaudibly, "Besides, how can I know _you _won't forget _me_?" It really did scare him to think his best friend, his _only _friend will forget him, move on with her life, and leave him here in this dark abyss he calls home._

_Hinata, hearing his previous words of fear, stepped out of his embrace- only a few inches to assure her friend she won't run away- and stared right into his eyes, lilac meeting jade head on. Reluctantly, she tugged a bit of her kimono off to shed light to her tattoo- an exact replica of Gaara's, except blue and a little left of her heart, where she can feel it beat. Cheeks flushed rubicund, she swiftly snatched his hand and placed it on the tattoo._

_It seems that Gaara, too, was blushing- not as much as the one holding his hand, but enough to seem uncharacteristic. He urged her to continue, for _both _of their sakes. A few, deep breaths was enough for her to go on, "As l-long as this h-h-heart beats, I-I will _never _f-forget you."_

_Gaara relaxed slightly, and Hinata seems to release some tension from her shoulders. Now that both of their qualms have been quelled, all was left for them was to stay within proximity of each other, and relish probably the last moment they'll spend with one another. That was brought to an end, as her father ordered quite loudly for his daughter to hurry up. Hinata had let go of his hand and followed the sound his voice. Her companion's eyes stayed glued on the back of her retreating form until she was no longer in sight._

_And he had never seen her again._

* * *

His team made it to the grand gates of Konoha. This is where _she_ lives, and he intends on taking her with him, clan be damned.

He walked ahead of his siblings, Kankuro and Temari, and sensei, Baki. He looked around for any hints of blue hair or lavender eyes, but to no avail.

_**Kid, why would she want you? We should make her suffer for forgetting you. Because we both know that's what she did. She probably scream at the sight of you. She will be terrified, she will **_**hate**_** you. You'll be left all alone...  
**_

He scowled lightly, of course she wouldn't be here. Who would love _him_ of all people? But she promised...

She probably forgot, which is what he should do. Of all people, _he_ should be granted the chance to lessen his pain, even if it means forgetting the one who helped him through said pain.

Hey, he never said it was easy, but this would most definitely benefit him in the long run _(despite that area in his chest that denies ever wanting to forget, that clenches painstakingly hard whenever he thinks of a life without her, that Hurts. So. Much.)_.

He turned back to his team, only to find out that his siblings already left to go sightseeing, and Baki went to get rooms at the inn. He sighed, they left him _(not that people haven't already done that...)_ with no guide, no sense of direction, nor a certain destination. Great.

He then started walking aimlessly.

* * *

She was walking around with no destination in mind. In fact, her mind is filled with thoughts of her red-headed best friend, who she hasn't seen in 6 years.

Does he remember the promise, even after all this time? No, he probably wouldn't care for someone as weak as her. Her family and the rest of Konoha, besides her team, doesn't even bother, so why should he? If he was here- _'Please, heart! Stop beating so loudly!_- he probably came here without even thinking of her at all. If that is what she deems as true, then why does her heart ache from his missing presence, ache for the painful truth to be nothing more than paranoia? Why is she sad when Gaara isn't here to hug her, much like the last time 6 years ago? Why is she sad when there's no red head to comfort her when her father's words opens new wound on her heart?

The more she thought about him, the deeper she blushed. She thought of the rather bold action of placing his hand on her chest- _'His hand was on my chest! Uwaaaa! Stop! Stop thinking about it!'_- when they parted ways. Looking back at it, that action would have been recognized more as an act of _(DON'T THINK OF THAT WORD!)_ than the intended friendship.

But before she could ponder on this any further, the red left her cheeks, and she froze on the spot. There stood Naruto and Sakura, with the kids she recognized as Moegi and Udon. Hanabi had introduced them to her and played with the four whenever she can. They grew to like her and she them with their constant contact.

But those four didn't make her freeze like she did. No, what made her freeze was the three people a few feet away from the four. There was Konohamaru, in the clutches of two strangers. Strangers she knew as Kankuro and Temari. She didn't know what she was doing, as her body had a mind of its own. And that mind commanded her body to run up as fast as she could, slap Kankuro's hand off of Konohamaru's signature scarf and punched him in the stomach as hard she could _(oh, if the clan knew she fought__ without using Gentle Fist...)_, all within the time span of 5 seconds. So one second later, Konohamaru was at Naruto's side, whose eyes were as wide as the others around him. Kankuro bended over slightly so he was an inch shorter than Hinata, which is quite a tiny height. She leaned down and did something very unHinata-like. She glared long and hard at his face reflecting his pain and sneered quietly, but loud enough for him and Temari, "So Kankuro, still picking on children? Think you're almighty knowing you can push around those half your size?"

The two had their eyes wide open, regaining memories of the little indigo girl in front of them. Temari's eyes softened at the good times the two girls shared, which were as much as the good times Hinata spent with Gaara. Being the only girl within a family of men is rather frustrating. It's nice to have another girl like her around. It's nice to think for one second that she has a little sister to fuss over clothes, boys and, of course, ninja training.

But Kankuro had a different reaction. He growled at her and lifted her up in the same fashion he did with Konohamaru and snarled, "This is what I hate about bratty kids about you. Acting all haughty in front of their elders, and their superiors."

He aimed a punch, but before he can follow through, or let Temari yell at him to stop, a cold voice was heard. One that made Hinata gasp in shock and blush lightly before turning her head at the owner of the voice.

"Kankuro stop it. You're an embarrassment to our village."

And there he was, hanging upside down, looking daggers-nope, not even, those eyes held so much disgust and contempt at the moment, that Kankuro swore that he would have died viciously and slowly at the this very moment- at his older brother and looking possessively at Hinata.

* * *

**A/N: **This is probably where I apologize to you all for leaving you hanging. And where I plead for you guys to spare my life and to put those fear-instilling tools of murder for just one second to hear me out.

So I hit a rut writing the next chapter. It's still developing right now, and it's long from done. HOWEVER, since the ideas are down for the chapters already posted, and I can't help but think they were written HORRIBLY, I'm gonna rewrite them.

So... comments? Still wanna inflict pain on me for making you guys wait so long? Think I'm being a lazy ass for not writing a new chapter and just revising the older ones? Well then, tell me all about it with that blue button beneath this text. Yep, that's the one. It's a very helpful little button that helps me know what the hell is going on concerning this story. Until next time! ^^

-Failure-chan


	2. Chapter 2

It was times like these, where he catches his older siblings cowering as if they are kids with their hands in the cookie jar- or rather, a hand holding his best friend from her jacket collar and another aiming to punch said friend- that he wonders if he's really the youngest of the family. Glaring vehemently at his idiot of a brother, and sneaking a glance at Hinata, he, yet again, forces himself to resist the urge to kill him. Sure, Kankuro isn't that bad of a guy all the time, but his cocky attitude is obnoxious and his actions border on the verge of insanity. But this one right here- well, it just takes the cake.

Gaara takes in Hinata's appearance, noting that nothing has changed save for her baggy attire. He is more used to the lightly colored kimonos she wore in their times together, but no longer is she a small child, too weak to defend herself. Well, she still retains the innocence of a child (of which he envies for his was destroyed long ago), but she is a kunoichi now, a ninja trained to kill. But within her eyes, he sees the compassion and kindness that's painfully familiar to him. What he wouldn't give to see those eyes, with such warmth, directed at him.

And they are, accompanied with shock and happiness, the latter he is not familiar with. Shock he knows- he sees it in the gazes of his victims, screaming at the Death incarnate, just as his sand devours them. Is she that happy to see _him_, the monster of Suna, who has killed thousands with the sand on his back? As he gazes into those depths of warm lavender, he can vividly imagine their times together, and hear Hinata's voice drowned in childish glee call out to him, using that stupid nickname (not that he would ever tell her- it would have broken her little heart).

_"Panda-kun!"_

_'So she does remember me,'_ He feels an emotion blooming inside his chest, all warm and tingly, and he wonders if this is what happiness feels like. As he ponders about it, he understands how absolutely preposterious for demons such as him to feel so at ease, so what is it? Shukaku laughs heartily at his container.

_**Child, what an idiot you are! Happiness? Such a useless thing does not exist for us demons! There is only hunger for the blood to splatter on our skin! For the carcasses of those who wronged us! For the screams of the helpless victims!**_

Gaara swats away the demon's insults (ignoring the conflict within the center of his chest and the painful clenching) and focuses on his quivering siblings, Kankuro's more visible amongst the two. Pathetic. "Losing yourself in a fight? How pathetic... why do you think we came to Konoha?" All three catch on the double meaning of his words. By now, everyone, except for the raven haired boy perched on the nearby branch and Hinata, are shaking like leaves in the autumn wind. _'How appropriate.' _he thought wryly. Kankuro's grip slackens enough for Hinata to step out and gain her footing, and he weakly raises both hands in defense.

"L-Listen Gaara, they started it and-" He never got to finish.

"Shut up, I'll kill you." he sneered. He tried his hardest to ignore the pang he felt as Hinata shivered, and he knows it wasn't from the cold. Timidly, her eyes reaches his, and she flinches, as if he slapped her, which is slightly insulting since he'll never lay a hand on her. Her eyes travel to Kankuro, who looks as if he's going to soil his jumpsuit. Kankuro stuttered out an apology as well as Temari, both clinging to their lives. He teleported himself between Kankuro and Hinata, noticing the growing concern the latter's eyes. Before he is overcome with this mysterious emotion and the tugging at his heart (or where his heart should be), he turns to leave, Kankuro and Temari following him. "Let's go."

"Hey, wait!" He knew that the feminine voice didn't belong to Hinata, for she would never do such a thing as shout out commands. He turns to see another girl there, with odd pink hair and in a red (red, of all colors!) dress of sorts. He sees the fear within her green eyes as she continues, "Judging from your hitai-ate, you guys are ninja of Sunagakure. You may be allies of Konohagakure, but it is forbidden for shinobi to enter each others village without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go..."

"A-Ano," Ah, now there it is- the soft voice that he knows so well. "Sakura-chan, I-I believe they are here f-for the C-Chunin Exams. I-Is that r-right?" She looks at the three of them, not daring to say their names in front of these strangers. Her eyes brighten the slightest bit when they land on him, and the tingly feeling returns.

* * *

Sasuke unnoticeably jumps down from his perch, observing the short red-head in front of him suspiciously. He's quite skilled to be able to sneak up on all of them- that level of skill is comparable to his own sensei's. Speaking of suspicion...

He glances at the Hyuuga in front of him, whose stance screams "I'm socially awkward, don't come near me!" She is hardly the same girl who confronted make-up boy- Kankuro, he remembers- and punched him in the gut. Never in his life did he hear Hinata speak without at least one stutter per sentence, let alone threaten an intimidating boy (his teammate sure made him not-so-intimidating) that easily towers over her. For sure, the Hyuuga is an interesting one.

The blonde one- the girl, not the dobe- is explaining the Chunin Exams to Naruto, who still looks as clueless as ever. He looks at the Suna nin and notices his stare, but it isn't directed at him. He follows the direction and, surprisingly, it lands on Hinata, who is staring back at him with a questionable emotion swirling in her eyes. Come to think of it, he didn't see her cower like the rest of them, besides himself of course, when the boy threatened Kankuro. He also noticied the familiarity in her eyes when she looks at the three of them, as if they are long-lost friends or some nonsense like that. That girl- Hinata, he thinks- is too timid to befriend anyone, let alone Gaara.

But then, how else are they connected? It is something worth thinking about.

"Hey, Konohamaru! Think I can enter this Chunin Exam thing?"

"Hey, listen to the answer of your question, baka!"

Sasuke made himself known as he stepped forward into Gaara's view. Sakura and, surprisingly, the little girl with them swooned as they finally noticed him, and he heard the scarf-clad boy berate Naruto for being so uncool. Well, at least someone agrees with him, even if it some kid. Unlike her fellow Konoha females, Hinata sighs, more defeated than dreamily. He decides to ignore the blow to his ego. "Hey, you. What's your name?"

The girl from Suna turns to him and blushes. Damn, he can't avoid fangirls even from another village. "Huh? You mean me?" He heard another sigh of defeat from Hinata, as if losing all hope in the female race. He can somewhat agree with her, although she is a prime example of the small percentage (very, _very _small percentage) of the exception.

Sasuke bluntly corrects her, "No, you with the gourd." The girl deflates. Said gourd-wearer turns around to face him, his expression devoid of any emotion.

"Sabaku no Gaara." Filing that into memory, he heard him continue. "I'm also interested in you, your name?" Sasuke smirks.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Not one to be outdone by his teammate, Naruto tries to get Gaara's attention. "Hey, I bet you're dying to know my name!" He grinned, already imagining Gaara going down on his knees, proclaiming praise and "I'm not worthy"s. He got the opposite.

"Hn, I could care less." His smile falters. "Let's go."

The Sand trio left.

* * *

Another rewrite! I swear, I have no idea what went on in my head thinking that the original was that good. Hopefully, this is better. I probably will be creating a rewrite for chapter 3 some time soon, so look forward to that!

Trying to get out of writer's block,

- Failure-chan


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, Failure-chan is here once again to bring the third chapter of this wonderful GaaHina! (well, in my opinion. . .) I finally reached the double digits in the review count! And since I'm new, this is a HUGE confident boost. Also, I'll probably post my ShinoHina story sometime this upcoming week, if I don't that means I'm extremely lazy. -_-'

_Hinata_- Thoughts

"Hinata"- Speech

**_Hinata_**- Demon Speech

Warning: There may be slight OOC Sasuke and other characters

**DISCLAIMER:** What's the point in saying it if you guys know it? . . . that and it hurts to keep saying I don't own Naruto. . .

* * *

Sasuke watched as Gaara and his team left.

The corners of his mouth twitched up a little, clearly showing his amusement. The Konohamaru Corps. has already left. _Heh, this is going to be interesting_. Sasuke then glanced at the Hyuuga. He noticed the dream-state stare she was giving towards the spot the red-head was just a while ago. She looked deep in thought, and that triggered something deep in his heart.

And he hates it.

He wants to never feel like this near anyone from the opposite sex, let alone the shy Hyuuga weakling. _What is she thinking?. . . Is she thinking about _him_?_ He inwardly shook his head at the idea. _Che, why should I care?_

But he was right about Hinata. She _has _been thinking about Gaara, her first best friend, and her first crush. What most people don't know about Hinata is that she is actually infatuated with the red head from Suna, not the blonde of Konoha, like most people think. While it may be true that she admires Naruto's determination, courage, and everything he has that she doesn't. But that admiration didn't to love, well not exactly. She loves Naruto in a friendly way, and that was because she knows how similar Naruto and Gaara are. They both seek recognition from their home villages. They both are very lonely. And she knows that they both have demons in them.

Hinata doesn't know how Naruto has a demon in him, or if he even carries one. She could be dead wrong. What led her to that assumption was the dark chakra emanating from his stomach area. She knows that that chakra comes from a bijuu because Gaara has the same type of chakra. She also thought that the demon might be the reason why everyone hates Naruto. She knows of the cold stares, the whispers of disgust, the malicious intent coming off of the civilians. She seen the same thing around Gaara, but the stares had more fear than disgust and malice. And behind the Hyuuga clan walls, the members do exactly what the people do to Naruto, but directed at her.

_Oh, Gaara, do you remember me? Do you remember what you said to me that day? Do they still treat you so unfairly? Has Shukaku affected you? What happened to you that makes you look at people with those eyes? _Hinata was brought out of her daze by an aloof voice.

"Oi, Hyuuga. Why are you here?" Hinata twisted her body in the direction of the voice, her lavender eyes meeting onyx.

"Teme, don't you know. She suddenly come from no where and saved Konohamaru from the weird guy with makeup, 'ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed. Sakura then punched his head, pissed off. Naruto proceeded rubbing his new wound, whining.

"Baka! Don't call Sasuke-kun 'teme'!" Sasuke sighed at the pitiful sight of his teammates. Naruto recovered from his wound and started talking to Hinata. He was excited about the display of power Hinata had given.

"You were awesome, Hinata-chan! Wait, how do you know Konohamaru?" He tilted his in confusion. Now that he thought about it, she had mentioned hurting her precious people or something along those lines.

Hinata, remembering her brave attempts at saving her sister's friend, was now blushing and stuttering, not at all like the girl earlier. "A-Ano, I-I-I have a-a little s-sister n-named H-H-Hanabi. She u-usually p-p-plays with them, and I join them. W-W-We t-then became f-f-friends." was her explanation.

This surprised Team 7, since they barely know the bluenette **(A/N: Heh, that's a fun word to type. . .)**.

Sasuke being the most surprised, for some reason. So she knows the feelings of having a younger sibling, much like a certain other Uchiha. He clenched his fists, no way was Hinata like Itachi, not in the slightest. But then he remembers what Hinata said earlier. She actually _plays_ with her sister, and Itachi doesn't play with him, he only trains. That's a huge difference, Hinata genuinely _cares_ about her.

Deciding to get rid of his thoughts of his brother, Sasuke reminded her, "Hey, you still didn't answer my question."

"I-I-I w-was w-w-walking b-by when I s-saw Konohamaru-kun b-being p-picked up by Kan- I-I m-m-mean the s-s-stranger." She let out a sigh of relief. Hinata almost gave herself away, she doesn't want them to know of her connections. She can sense a little hatred towards the Sabaku siblings from the three with her right now. If they know of her ties with the Suna nin, she would be in trouble. And her being a pacifist, wants to avoid trouble as much as possible.

Sasuke nodded at her answer, noticing the slight hesitation when she was about to say a name. _So she _does_ know them. But why?_ He dismissed that thought, then started to walk away.

Sakura saw this and then followed him. "Sasuke-kun, wait for me!"

Naurto, watching his crush walk away, decided to catch up. "Sakura-chan, wait! Bye Hinata-chan!" He waved while running towards the pink hair beauty, **(A/N: I was so disgusted when writing that. I HATE SAKURA! Gaara: Say what happens next or I'll kill you. Me: Aaaaaaaah, gomenasai!) **Hinata waving back.

Once Naruto was out of sight, she stopped waving and sighed. _Gaara. . ._ Hinata then continued on with her walk.

* * *

Yay, I survived, Gaara didn't kill me! I'm sorry if parts of the story were off topic! So, what do you think about the chapter. Looks like Gaara has some competition, will Sasuke win Hinata's heart? I have decided to officially make this a GaaHinaSasu!

Review, onegai!

-Failure-chan


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, I have come back with the fourth chapter of I'll Watch Over You! When I reread my latest chapter, I was really frustrated with how it went. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr, I really need a beta! *sighs* Anyway, here's a little key to help with reading:

"Hinata"- Speech

_'Hinata'_- Thought

_Hinata_- Emphasis

**_Hinata_**- Demon Talk

**Failure: Do I really have to say this?**

**Gaara: Yes, you do. Do you want to be sued?**

**Failure: *gasps* NOOOOOOOOO!**

**Gaara: -_-'**

**Hinata: F-F-Failure-c-chan does n-not own G-Gaara-k-kun or me.**

**Failure: YATTA! You saved me from being sued! Arigato gozaimasu! *huggelz Hinata***

**Gaara: *rolls eyes***

**Failure: Let's start!**

* * *

Yesterday had come and go. After she left, she had a "friendly" chat with her father, (meaning degrading her), trained with her teammates, and of course, trained vigorously after Kiba and Shino left. This morning, however had a big impact on Hinata. Her sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai, has given her a recommendation to the Chuunin Exams. It also seems that all the other rookies would be participating, a first in years. She remembered the conversation she had with the Sabaku siblings yesterday. They said they were joining the Chuunin Exams, as well, so she's trying her hardest to fulfill her promise made long ago with a particular sand-using, crimson haired boy. So, she trained all afternoon, and the upcoming night.

Little did Hinata know that said boy was looking intently at her training with his cold, unemotional jade eyes. He watched every little movement, the way she thrusted her palms forcefully, despite its title, the Gentle Fist style. Past observations proved that this is anything _but_ gentle. The splintered wooden log, her bloody hands, beads of sweat rolling down Hinata's forehead, shallow breaths clearly showing her exhaustion, Gaara watched all and nothing escaped.

So, it didn't surprise Gaara that Hinata's knees were giving out on her, thus sending her to the cold ground. He transported himself to her side before she made contact with the surface, and set her on the abused training log and watched with curiosity. Hinata's breathing had evened out and her muscles had relaxed, signs of unconsciousness. Knowing that, Gaara left her there, but not before leaving some grains of his chakra-infused sand in her open hand, marking his presence.

What Gaara didn't know was that the Uchiha avenger was watching Hinata, as well.

Sasuke was on a large branch supporting his weight a far distance from the training ground Hinata is in, but not too far away so he couldn't Hinata or Gaara. After Gaara left, Sasuke jumped down and slowly walked towards the log Hinata was sleeping on, so he couldn't wake her up. When he was within arm's distance from her, he stopped and watched her chest rise up and down in rhythmic breathing.

Sasuke couldn't help but notice how the moonlight shone on Hinata's pale body, if he was any normal boy, he would think that she was glowing and her indigo hair was as beautiful as the night sky.

But he was not a normal boy, he was Uchiha Sasuke, one who shows no emotion and avoids any besides hatred. He shows hatred to everyone, hatred to his brother, and hatred to himself, for being so weak. And yet, he doesn't - no, more like _can't_- show hatred to the sleeping girl in front of him. Why is that? He doesn't know either. And that frustrates him.

'_How does she do it. I'm suddenly interested in her after watching her. It's not like I felt like this when I was in the Academy with her, so why now? This doesn't make sense!_' Sasuke brought his attention to Hinata, who was opening her eyes. Hinata felt something on the palm of her hand and saw sand. "Gaara-kun. . ." she said it like she was talking to herself and ignoring Sasuke entirely.

That made Sasuke flinch, albeit very slightly. She called him Gaara-_kun_. Now he knows she knows him, the mysterious Sabaku no Gaara, but the question is: how? How does she know him? One, they are exact opposites. Gaara has enough killing intent to scare the shit out of everyone in that ally yesterday- with the exception of Hinata and Sasuke. On the other hand, Hinata is a shy stuttering kunoichi that wouldn't hurt a fly- well, in Sasuke's opinion. Two, to get from Suna to Konoha is about three days, and the desert makes it hard to travel between the two villages. Hinata couldn't possibly went to Suna, right? He needs to know.

"Hyuuga"

Hinata turned her head at the mention of her last name, and saw Uchiha Sasuke. She blushed, what is he doing here? Did he hear her say Gaara's name? "S-Sasuke-san, w-why are you h-here?"

Sasuke was more irritated than before, she acts so polite near him, but she speaks about Gaara like she has known him forever. Wait, how does this irritates him? "How do you know the Sabakus?"

Hinata widened her eyes in shock, why is he asking her this? She looked down at the sand and guessed that Gaara must have caught her when she collapsed. So, does that mean he saw that, or is he talking about what happened the day before?

"W-What do y-you mean?"

"Hn. You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

There was a long pause, too long in Sasuke's opinion. Hinata finally spoke up, but it wasn't what he expected.

"Ano, why should I tell you? Nobody else has made an effort to actually know me, so why start now?"

She didn't stutter, she didn't say it in her nice and polite way. She clearly voiced out her thoughts and talked back at _the _Uchiha Sasuke.

He was impressed.

Hinata immediately clasped both hands over her mouth. She didn't mean to talk back at Sasuke, but it felt so _good_. Hinata looked up to see Sasuke's face, trying to see any reactions. What she didn't expect was to see hints of amusement. Okay, scratch that, she _definitely_ meant every word. Does he _like_ seeing her irritation? What a sadist.

"I repeat, how do you know the Sabakus?"

Sasuke finds it amusing to hear Hinata's irritation, because one, she doesn't stutter. Two, looking at her pout is kinda. . . cute. Sasuke inwardly shook his head, how could he think of that? He doesn't like her, right?

Hinata slowly rose from her spot on the training log, making Sasuke step back to give her room. She rose her pearl eyes to gaze into his onyx ones, although very shyly, but with a hidden determination. She took a deep breath, calming herself down, and left.

Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance. So she just gets up and leaves? Where did she find such courage, he wondered. He sighed. _I obviously made her mad by asking personal questions, and it seems she won't answer them without a valid reason. Wait, why do I care? Doesn't she like the dobe or something?_

Sasuke watched her retreating form glow in the moonlight, casting shadows over her petite figure. Soon he left as well in the opposite direction.

* * *

Hey, I added a little SasuHina moment there. So, does Sasuke like her? What is Hinata's and Gaara's relationship? Does Gaara like her too? Why am I talking like this? REVIEW!

Happy President's Day!

-Failure-chan


	5. Chapter 5

Gaara eyes scanned across the room full of genin. Full of his prey. These weaklings don't seem to stand a chance against him, so really, what is the point of this stupid exam if he knows he's strong?

He is well aware of the Suna/Oto invasion planned by his power crazy father, the Kazekage, and the disgusting snake Orochimaru. But all in all, it was nothing but child's play to Gaara.

Nothing more than a game of cat and mouse- or mice in this situation.

Still looking around, he happened to have his sights on sweet little Hinata, watching her stand awkwardly between two males, peer curiously at the surrounding ninjas before her. Her moonlike eyes glanced at Gaara's unintentionally. Iridescent pale met his cold jade and locked in place for what seemed like eternity creating a never ending war inside his mind. What is he feeling, _why _is feeling like this? Why does he want to look away, but not at the same time? It was Hinata who broke away, blushing a bright pink, poking her index fingers together nervously.

She looked, dare he say it, cute.

He shook his head inwardly getting rid of the confusing emotions. What does this mean? Why was he was a little _happy _that their eyes met and _disappointed_ that she looked away. Infuriated at his weakness, Shukaku scolded his captor.

_**What are you doing boy? A weapon of war and destruction having **_**feelings**_** towards that weak little thing, unacceptable! Kill her, spill her sweet crimson blood all over this room! DO IT BOY!**_

He cringed at the ringing in his head. Kankuro and Temari backed away a bit, not noticed by others around them but Gaara did see that. It was as if they are expecting him to suddenly lose control of his demon and kill them without second thoughts. Idiots they are, all afraid of him. But she wasn't an idiot nor afraid. She was different…

* * *

_She was the one to approach him that day, back in Suna all those years ago. Around 6 or 7 years ago, little Gaara was sitting on a swing, his trustworthy teddy bear by his side, glaring at the ground with hateful eyes as if the reason he was hated was its fault. Really, all he wanted to do was play with those kids and possibly make friends. Only in the end, he concluded his efforts were wasted and no one will ever want to play with him._

_Oh, how wrong he was, he realized as a petite little thing - a girl, he thought- walked his way. At closer inspection, he saw it was indeed a she. She was a meek little girl adorning colors quite rare around here, so he suspected she was from another village. Her kimono was a plain pale pink with a darker shaded obi, complimenting her pale skin- although not as pale as his- but contrasting greatly with her black hair with natural blue highlights. Her eyes, he shockingly observed, was a pale lavender with almost invisible pupils. They were big in fascination towards this foreign land and took in every detail._

_She stopped once she saw a shock of unruly red hair atop a boy roughly her age. He was looking rather lonely, so she decided to slowly walk up to him, fidgeting more and more as she comes closer. She stood a good five feet away from the swing he was sitting on before stopping to study him more. He was wearing a light tan poncho over a black shirt and pants. She was slightly astounded by his facial features. A permanent frown set upon on his face, a small nose, no eyebrows and black rimmed jade eyes piercing right through your soul._

_Hinata noticed him clenching the teddy bear closer to him, like a defense mechanism. So does he wish to ignore her as well? She knew this happens all the time at home. By her father, by her cousin, by everyone at the Hyuuga household, Main or Branch, it doesn't matter to this insignificant girl. Guess that's the only thing that doesn't separate the two halves of this clan; their indifference to this defenseless girl._

_Why did she wish to talk to him if she knew he would ignore her like the rest? But for some reason, Hinata feels as though she can trust this boy that he wouldn't walk away. So with that instinct, she opened her mouth to finally convey her thoughts. "H-Hello. W-W-What's your n-name?"_

_Noticing her presence, he abruptly aligned his eyes with hers, detecting slight fear and nervousness. Oh, so is she just as afraid as everyone else? Does she hate him too? If so, then why come closer to him? Perhaps to look at him more closely and then flee after seeing him as the monster he is? He was surprised when he heard her speak._

_So she wants his name? As soon as he says it, it's likely that she will run away, he knows it. But why does he want to trust her? Deciding to get it over with, he said it at last. "Sabaku no Gaara. Yours?"_

_Ah, so that is his name. It's better than calling him "the boy" all the time. Just as he finished, she became aware of the question he asked. "O-Oh. It's H-Hyuuga H-H-Hinata. Nice t-to meet-t y-you." She shakily smiled._

_His eyes widened a fraction. She did not run away? She actually replied with a 'nice to meet you' and smiled! Even after saying his name, which is equivalent to the Shinigami himself. She is either a big idiot or she doesn't care. He really hopes for the latter._

_"A-Ano, d-do y-y-you want to p-play with me?"_

* * *

Gaara was interrupted of his reminiscing as a loud sound was heard. He looked to the group of people in front of the door. Apparently, they are the 3 genin teams fresh out of the academy trying for these exams, Hinata being one of them. Hinata, however, wasn't the one who was yelling or making any other loud noises- as expected- but it was someone who was also straight of the academy; the blonde one from a couple days earlier. There was also the pink haired girl who asked for his reason for coming here. Right now, she looks rather annoyed by the blonde and hit him for his insolence. He concluded that the dark haired one- Uchiha Sasuke, he remembers- is the final member of this rather rambunctious team.

There were five other people he didn't know. A girl with blonde hair- paler than the boy, though. A boy looking bored of this whole event with his hair in a spiky ponytail, resembling a pineapple. A rounder boy next to him with red swirled cheeks, happily munching away on his chips- those three would be the other team, he hypothesized. A wild looking boy with upside down red triangles and a dog on his head, standing next to Hinata- her teammate, he guessed. If that's true, then the boy with the shades and high collar next to the dog boy would be the other teammate, making up the last team of rookies.

A purple clad ninja , later introduced as Kabuto, approached them later and started to converse with them. He knelt down to show interesting cards chock full of information concerning the ninja world. The Uchiha came up and asked for him and a boy named Rock Lee.

Rock Lee was shown first, and Gaara soaked up all this information for future reference. What interested him was he was teamed up with another Hyuuga, Neji. He remembers Hinata mentioning him before in the time he met her. She showed great concern over him, as he continues down a path full of resentment towards the Main House for taking away his father. She felt as if it was her entire fault. That didn't surprise him as she always think that certain things happen because of her.

When he was introduced, he was relatively amused by the faces everyone made. Most of them were in awe of his skill, the pineapple headed boy and the Uchiha with interest, varying between the two, and Hinata was a mix of shock and admiration. The last one made him feel kind of tingly, if he were to put it in words. Being admired at all, let alone his childhood friend was something he never expected. Hinata always seems to affect him.

Suddenly, the blonde orange clad ninja proclaimed his name and quote "I won't lose to you bastards!" unquote. If he didn't have any enemies then, he sure gained a lot now. His teammate quickly put him in a headlock to lessen the tension. It got worse as she tried to say that it was a joke.

He tuned the rest conversation out, but was once again looking back as he saw three figures approach Kabuto in quickly, the one with spiky black hair jumping up throwing kunai, landing where Kabuto was previously. A mummy looking one attempted a punch with his metallic arm, but Kabuto dodged quickly enough to avoid it. The third one, a girl with the Oto symbol, walked up to her teammates as they stood in front of Kabuto.

Kabuto, despite averted the punch, had his glasses shattered and had dropped down to his knees to throw up. The rookie 9 reacted to that quickly, two coming to assist him.

All of a sudden a large puff of smoke appeared and disappeared as quickly, revealing a scarred man in a black trench coat, the Konoha symbol on his hitai-ate, with other chuunins behind him. The man introduced himself as Morino Ibiki, the first proctor of the long awaited test. The other genin were intimidated by this rugged man, visibly shaking in fear.

The Chuunin Exams start now.

* * *

**A/N: **Whoo, that was the longest chapter I've written so far! Hope that makes up for the unbelievably long wait!^^' In here, we reveal some, but not all, of Gaara's relationship and feelings towards Hinata and introduce the Chuunin Exams. Let the torture begin!

Gaara:...

Me:...

Gaara: Say it.

Me: Not gonna! *pouts*

Gaara: *death glare*

Me: MEEP! *hides behind Hinata* HA, I have your weakness. You cannot stop me from owning Naruto! !

Gaara:... damn it.

Hinata: Failure-chan does not own me, Gaara-kun, or anyone. That all rightfully belongs to Kishimoto-sama.

Me:Awwww~ Nata-chan, why can't you let me have any- wait, did you say Gaara-KUN?

Hinata: *blushes*

Gaara: *blushes faintly*

Me: *squeals* I LOVE GAAHINA

**I COMMAND THEE TO REVIEW THY CHAPTER!**


	6. Chapter 6

That man must have gone stark raving mad. Cuckoo. Crazy. Bonkers enough to be immediately detained and strapped up in a straitjacket for all of eternity. Because does he honestly expect the idiot that is his teammate to answer _any_ of the questions, let alone _pass_? Everyone knows he isn't the brightest crayon in the box (despite his rather blinding attire- _orange_, of all things) and that ultimately means he will fail this test, meaning that he and Sakura will fail as well, regarding the rules. It seems that Sakura was thinking along those lines and glared at Naruto.

Though, he wouldn't he blame her- he was doing the same thing as well, and it seems Naruto took notice of both unspoken promises of painful torture when he shuddered in fear- he has worked too damn hard to fail because of a stupid written exam. He needed this. He needed to improve, be stronger, to defeat _him_. The one who shamed his family, whose hands are soiled by the blood of his parents, who abandoned him in this cruel, cruel world.

The one who he shamefully called a brother.

His thoughts were paused as the madman- I mean, proctor, began the test. His eyes scanned over the page...

And he realized that his was doomed.

This test is not made for genin, that's for sure. Just glancing at the first question- a cryptogram, _really_- he knew that Naruto will be having a mental breakdown. Hell, he's starting to get a little freaked out. He can't answer _any of these_. And he bets almost all of genin here can't. Then again, Sakura has a large amount of knowledge, so she can answer these. And Shikamaru too, while he is as lazy as hell, he has the intelligence to make up for it. Naruto noticed that answering these are impossible as well, for he had his head tucked under his arms, obviously doubting himself. He did notice Hinata worriedly glance at his teammate. _'Of course she would,' _he thought, _'the dobe is her crush...'_ But for some reason, he felt a pang in his heart recalling that thought.

Whoa, wait for one minute. He does not have _any _feelings towards that Hyuuga, nope, none at all. So let's get back to the very crucial test that could very well determine his ninja staus. His main concern: he can't answer this test without cheating at all. Those chuunin sitting at the side makes it near impossible to cheat, like they _expect _them to cheat...

_'Wait...this isn't just a test of intelligence. Dobe, better hurry up and realize it, because this test..'_

_'Is used to see how well we can gather information.'_

_'"A shinobi must read underneath the underneath." So the examiner meant that if we cheat, don't do it pathetically, but like a proud ninja and not get caught. Now the subtraction point system makes sense along with cheating 4 times before failing you. They're testing our ability to gather information and not getting caught by the testing officers and the person whose test we're cheating off.'_

He inwardly sighed. Now that he figured it out the objective of the exam, he could finally finish. He looked around the room, and found a smart looking genin writing down answers and carefully observed his movements. _'Now, copy them!...'_

_'SHARINGAN!'_

And victory for the Uchiha, hold your applause. The hellish test in front of him is done, and now he could relax, assuming the Sasuke thinking position **(1)**. He looked over his teammate once more, who is still clenching his head in nervousness. Suddenly, a kunai was sent to his direction to the guy behind him. Too close for comfort. A testing officer told him he failed as he stood up and the rest of his team followed.

Naruto seemed even more anxious now, until his head was turned to the direction of the bluenette sitting next to him- which Sasuke has now classified as Hinata, the source of all his confusing thoughts. He couldn't read lips that well, but judging from Naruto's shocked face and Hinata's nervous but worried one, with the slight sliding of her paper, he hypothesized that she offered her answers. A very Hinata thing to do. But he still can't get over the confusion, and surprisingly a wave of jealously, over the fact she offered his teammate, the _dobe_, her help.

Naruto looked a bit confused, and seemed to ask why for she looked a bit flustered. Her ever annoying, but a little cute, finger pointing habit came up again, as she reluctantly gave her reason. Naruto had his mouth shaped in an 'o' of understanding. Hinata slid the paper under her arm and as Naruto was about to peek, he hesitated. Probably he almost got caught by a testing officer.

Once again, they started talking, but Naruto was doing more of it, showing off his confidence. Hinata seemed a bit surprised, judging the widening of her pupil-less eyes. Talking once again, Hinata seemed to understand and backed down. _'Did he just reject help, on a **test**? But then again, he could get caught, subtlety isn't one thing he can do.'_ And with that, Sasuke left the issue alone. Instead he focused on the girl adjacent to the blonde. Hyuuga Hinata.

All he knows is that she is Hyuuga, clearly shown by her eyes, shy as hell, but can have confidence when the situation called for it, has an annoying stutter and finger poking habit, and has a crush on the _**dobe**_, of all people. But as he further associates with her, he realized that there are many more secrets that he has yet to discover. Such as her relationship to the mysterious, and slightly scary, Sabaku no Gaara. From the information found in Kabuto's cards, he knew he was strong, if he was able to complete a b-ranked mission without a scratch. _'Stronger than me...'_, he begrudgingly admits. So how does someone as weak as Hinata knows the Suna boy? He can longer ponder as an announcement has been made.

"Ok, and now... We will begin the tenth question."

* * *

**A/N: **Yay for updates!^^ Sorry, my midget friend (who still hasn't updated her account!) and I have been doing a random role play featuring Soul Eater, Dragon Ball Z and ourselves for the past few days and I got caught up on it. Then, she wanted a Maximum Ride/Dragon Ball Z/Kuroshitsuji crossover with us in it. That girl has awesome ideas, although very weird. We decided to post it up here sooner or later, so look forward to that!

**(1)- **You know, when he puts his elbows on the table, fingers intertwined, and close to his mouth, staring off into space. I thought that since Shikamaru had his own thinking position (with his eyes closed, hands forming an 'O'), this one should be Sasuke's.

Gaara: *death glare* I was barely mentioned in this story.

Me: Don't worry, you'll be in the next one, I promise!

Gaara: Hn...

Me: What's with hot stoic anime guys and their one syllable answers?

Gaara: Don't you have something to say?

Me: Oh yeah. Naruto...

Naruto: Yes?

Me: You... have been... DISCLAIMED!

Hinata: That's right. Any aforementioned characters are owned by our creator, Masashi Kishimoto-sama.

Me: Review because you love GaaHina, or Gaara, or Hinata, or me, or... JUST REVIEW ONEGAI!


	7. Chapter 7

_"Ok! Let's check it out!" His smile was large and feral, matching his cute companion's. And like his companion, he was always curious, always itching for excitement. They say that curiosity killed the dog (let's not use cat, lest you want to insult the Inuzuka name), but he was lucky - it _almost_ killed him._

"Kiba..." She turned to her side, eyebrows furrowing and lips pursing.

_"Kiba... What are you saying? We shouldn't." It wasn't sure whether or not he was glaring at his brash teammate, what with his shades and all, but the message of "What the _hell _are you thinking" was clear enough in his tone. And he wasn't the only one thinking like that- her eyes shone with worry as she glanced at her friend._

"Shi...no..." A yawn broke the name in half, as her lashes brushed her permanently rosy cheeks.

_Said friend was already on his way to discover the other genin, in hopes of retrieving another scroll and thus decreasing the competition.  
_

_What he didn't know, however, was that one certain red-headed genin had it all covered.  
_

_But she knew- she saw that red-haired genin with her own lavender eyes. And she knew she had to stop Kiba before it was too late. She took off after him, with Shino following.  
_

She turned again, and again, and again.

_When she stopped behind a bush next to her friend, she noticed the dog- poor, little Akamaru- cowering in fear, whimpering. She paid no heed to Kiba's explanation of Akamaru's sudden fear, because she knew all along that this would happen._

_He sensed Gaara._

_She faced the genin in front of her. There were six: three siblings from Suna, three genin from Kiri, two teams.  
_

_And one jinchuuriki; her eyes were fixated on him. He stood between and in front of his siblings, eyes glaring and arms crossed.  
_

_Akamaru whimpered again, and Kiba surmised that it was the bigger, much older Kiri genin that he was worried about. She subtly shook her head._ 'They are wrong,' _she thought. _'So very wrong.' _Because the __real threat is the boy opposite him, the boy half the other's size, the boy she can't stop staring at.__  
_

_Words were passed around the Kiri genin and Gaara, and soon Kankuro joined, asking his brother to ask for information. But Gaara ended it all quickly, his words sending unpleasant shivers down her spine.  
_

_"Those who meet my eyes... must die." _

Involuntarily, a shiver ran down her spine. She grasped for the bedsheets for comfort in vain.

_A battle commenced soon after, and was decided just as quickly. Granted, it proved to be nothing short of impressive with the Kiri-nin's raining needles, however Gaara proved to better with his ultimate sand defense, as Kankuro explained so haughtily._

_The Kiri-nin found himself raised in the air, the sand cocooning him, much to everyone's shock. Temari seemed to be unfazed as she explained Gaara's control over all the sand here, there, and everywhere. Gaara picked up a stray umbrella and opened it, as he held his right arm out, his fingers slowly closing into a fist, as if crushing him with his bare hands.  
_

_The hand clenched into a fist, and his fate was decided.  
_

_It rained red, with Death personified staring passively, going out on a monologue about the blood powering his sand._

She curled into a tighter ball, quaking and afraid. She could still feel that tiny drop splatter on her cheek.

_The teammates of the fallen man shakily placed their scroll on the ground, begging for mercy and running away in hopes of being spared, forgotten. They couldn't have been more wrong._

_A hand of death locked onto their legs, encasing each individual, and once more, it rained.  
_

_Kankuro picked up the scroll, satisfied that it's what they needed. He offered to head to the tower now, but Gaara refused.  
_

_He wasn't satisfied- not in the slightest. He needed_ more_._

_Team 8 stopped in their tracks, not moving, not speaking, not even_ breathing_. __Did he find them? __Are they next? _

_Kankuro tried to reason with his brother, mentioning how dangerous it is for him and his sister to stay any longer and hunt for more scroll, even if being on his own would suffice. Gaara called him a coward, raising his right arm towards the bush as he called him trash. Kankuro was pissed, and the spat intensified. It was not of the brotherly sort, but more along the lines stop-your-bitching-before-I-do-it-for-you sort.  
_

_Ever being the mediator, Temari tried to calm down her brother before he starts killing anyone else, her brother or otherwise. He didn't listen.  
_

_His hand was curling slowly, and sand was floating around the bushes, brushing against Hinata's cheeks- Death's loving embrace.  
_

_"GAARA!"  
_

_'Wait... is that... no, why... why now? Why did she have to see _this_?' He hesitated, stopped the slightest second, until it clenched fully into a_ _fist._

Hinata yelped and shot out of the bed, panting and clenching her chest, to the left of her heart, where she felt it beat a mile a minute. She looked frantically around for her teammates who were sleeping soundly, their chest moving through the motions of breathing. She sighed, closing her eyes to compose herself, as she left her temporary room for the comfort of the night sky. She tread through a million of flights of stairs, as she finally reach the rooftop. She gazed in awe upon the specks of light sprinkled on the vast blue, the moon punching out a gargantuan white hole in the sky.

She settled down, her legs hanging off the edge, as she deeply inhaled and exhaled the forest air.

_"Fine..." He held out a cork, made entirely of his sand, and closed his gourd. An irritated glare was shared among them as they left for the tower._

_Team 8 released the tension form their bodies, Kiba muttering how dangerous the "Sand kid" is.  
_

_Hinata looked on thoughtfully- he has no idea how true those words_ _were.  
_

Hinata sensed a chakra signature, but made no move to attack.

After all, why would she defend herself from her childhood friend?

"Gaara-kun..." He stared blankly. She sighed as she patted the spot to her right, offering him a seat, to which he reluctantly accepted. His right leg dangled over the rooftop, as he folded the other one to his chest, where he rested his arm, the other hand - the one closest to Hinata- rested on the tiles. Hinata, noticing the free hand, slowly inched hers to his. Naturally, the sand barrier prevented any contact, but she was never one to give up. She coated her hand with chakra, but not of the traditional blue kind, but of a blazing blend of reds, oranges, and yellows. She tried again. The sand relented.

Her hand lowered lightly onto his and hoped to pass through the final obstacle: Gaara himself.

She was saddened to feel his hand slip out, but regained her spirit as her fingers were interlocked with his- a rather brazen move, and he was quite proud to see her blush so prettily.

They watched the moonlit sky together, a comfortable silence between them. Neither wanted to discuss what happened earlier in the forest- her inquiries, fears, and worries were never voiced, nor was his regret of having her watch. There was only calm. She broke it.

"I..." Gaara turned to face her, beckoning her to continue. "I do not wish to fight you."

He only looked towards the sky, tightening his grip ever so slightly.

Yes, he didn't want to either.

* * *

I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, SO sorry that I have made you wait for so long~! I wrote this, then rewrote this, and rewrote this _again_ to finish this. Ideas and urges to rewrite past chapters/stories (which are HORRIBLE, by the way, and I hope to change that) have got in the way. That, and school (Luckily, it's over, so yay! But there's summer projects, so aww...), and drama, and laziness... mostly laziness. ^^;

I tried my bestest to make this chapter as great as possible for you guys! Feel free to review!

As always, I don't own Naruto, or any characters mentioned here. Which is really fortunate for you guys, seeing as how late I took to update, you would have suffered. :'D

- Failure-chan


	8. Chapter 8

She opens her eyes, not that there is any difference if she doesn't.

Darkness surrounds Hinata, threatening to engulf her. Even with her Byakugan she can't see anything past her outstretched hands. She becomes what every Hyuuga fears.

Blind.

However... she is not like most Hyuuga. Fearlessly, she moves forward, not at all perturbed by the fact that she can't tell if she's advancing any further from her initial spot, what with the never-ending landscape of black. Ten minutes pass - or maybe ten seconds, or ten millenia, who's to say how much time has passed in this realm of nothingness? - and Hinata detects something from the corner of her eyes (how she can do so in this place, she has not the slightest idea): a shimmer, a faint speck of light. She draws herself closer, watching the small light grow as their proximity grows. The small dot of light enlarges into the size of her fist, then her head, and continues to fully grow into a colossal structure once Hinata's a mere meter away. It is a bird-cage, glowing radiantly and housing feathers, but no bird. The feathers are a fiery hue, enhanced by the cage's glow, reminding her of the warmth of a loved one. She reaches out for the bars and lightly grasps them, reveling in the warmth they emit.

_"Child..."_

She jumps at the sudden, but familiar voice, subtly looking around for the source. There is none, though it doesn't faze her at all.

_"Do you feel it as well, child?"_

She pauses, playing the past few days in her head like a movie, and nods. She knows that the voice is neither talking about the happiness of reuniting with Gaara, nor the nervousness of this test.

It is the premonition, lying in wait and invading her thoughts. This feeling of unease worming its way in, warning her of a horrible event to come. She knows it from past experiences. She felt it 10 years ago, the night she lost an uncle and a brother, her beloved playmate and cousin. She felt it two years after, and gained a sister... but at the cost of her mother, her best friend and confidant. The year after, she felt it when she thought she lost her dear friend (obviously that was not the case).

She wonders who will she lose this time.

_"Fear not, child. For when the time comes, I will be there to aid you..." _The voice disappears (she doesn't know how she can tell, she just _can_), and the cage dissolves in the darkness.

Hinata closes her eyes as she gives a faint reply.

"Hai, kanojo-sama..."

* * *

She opens her eyes.

Sunlight trickles from the small gap between the drawn curtains, shining on her blanketed form. She assumes Gaara brought her to her room when she fell asleep atop the roof again. She must thank him later. The two of them spend their nights together on the rooftop- some spent talking, most spent in silence, stargazing while holding each other's hand.

She sits up, noticing Kiba still sleeping with Akamaru by his head in the bed adjacent to her, Shino nowhere to be found. Deciding not to worry about her missing teammate, Hinata climbs out of bed, searching for her sandals. As she puts them on, an awake Akamaru trots to her side, seeming less scared than he was four days ago. She pets his head gently, glad the little pup is returning to his normal, chipper self. Gaara gave everyone a fright that day in the fores t- even she was a bit afraid. Although, Hinata was more scared for him than of him (she knows he can't bring himself to hurt her). Shukaku is controlling her dear friend more and more as time passes, and she fears losing him after finally reuniting with him. She hears a yawn and turns to see Kiba rising from his bed. Akamaru joins his master's side, enjoying more head rubs from said master. He smiles at his teammate.

"Mornin' Hinata."

"Good m-morning, Kiba-kun."

Another yawn slips out of his mouth as he looks around noticing something- or rather, someone- missing. "Where's Bugboy?"

Just as Hinata opens her mouth to answer - and reprimand him for calling their friend an offensive name - the door swings open, revealing said teammate, as he pushes his shades back towards his eyes. "All genin teams are to report to the arena. The second exams are officially over."

Hinata breaths a sigh of relief, relaxing her shoulders. This hell is over. _'But...'_

She stares into the distance, remembering her previous conversation, hands trembling slightly.

_'What hell will I enter today?'_

* * *

Gaara looks across the large room, and wonders what's plaguing his friend's mind. During the Hokage's speech he paid no mind to, as well as that sickly-looking jonin who came in later, he glanced back to see the inner turmoil in her bright eyes, the fear, the anxiety, but of what? What does she have to fear? Is it her cousin, whose eyes follow her bitterly and hands that clench and unclench constantly, as if contemplating hurting her? Is it the upcoming test, the unbearable thought of having to fight her fellow Konoha shinobi? Is she afraid of disappointment, of being unable to win and ultimately prove her self-worth?

Or is it something larger than that?

"Preliminary?! What do you mean?!" He closes his eyes, his nonexistent brows furrowing irritation at the pineapple-haired genin. As long as he has someone to kill, such details don't matter to him. However...

His left eye opens a little to peek at the finger-poking bluenette, her eyes straying to the blond loudmouth, relief flooding them.

_'She may not like that.'_

As of late, the girl has been plaguing his thoughts since his first encounter with her in years. Although he has changed immensely the past few years, she... she stayed the same - sweet, considerate, _innocent_. He can still see her as the six year old kid who he pushed on his swing as she giggled endlessly with a face-splitting grin.

He envies that a bit - despite everything that happens, everyone who scorn her, she is still herself and not like his jaded self. He wishes he can have that strength. She's strong with determination and kindness, while he is strong with blood and fear - the destruction to her healing, the dark to her light.

"...Those who feel like quitting after these explanations, please come forward now, since we would be starting the preliminary immediately."

"Umm, I'm going to quit."

"HUH! Kabuto-san!"

Jade irises narrow at a pale figure standing amongst the genin team leaders. _'What is that snake planning?' _Orochimaru obviously omitted a part of the plan in order to benefit himself more than his father and Suna. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if the snake ends up killing him - he's not above that.

Furthermore, the snake seems to be more interested in the Uchiha painfully clutching his shoulder than anything else. What does the raven-haired genin have to do Orochimaru, though? What is the benefit?

A loud electronic _ping!_ catches his attention, and draws his eyes to the large screen above displaying two names:

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi

_'Well then,' _he muses, _'I guess I'll find it out soon - the potential of the Uchiha.'_

* * *

Hinata's eyes unwillingly follow the prodigy's movements, noticing his wincing and him favoring his left shoulder. Although the second exam was indeed exhausting, Sasuke looks like he's about to drop dead. Just what did he face in the forest?

She cringes as he hits the floor and futilely fights off his enemy - he's not really living up to his name. He seems to have an upper hand at the moment, subduing his opponent for a while until his hand hand touches him, and that's when the battle goes downhill. Sasuke looks like he's drained even more so, as if Yoroi is sucking the life out of him. It seems he still has some strength in him when he kicks the Oto nin off of him.

And then the show really begins.

Amidst his running, Yoroi is suddenly kicked up into the air and Sasuke is right below him. However, he hesitates a bit, and she swears she sees tomoe-looking black marks traveling the left side of body but they retreat and he's back up to speed. He pulls off an amazing aerial combo, and lands a kick to the stomach as the finishing move as he flounder to the other side of his unconscious enemy, very _very _tired.

The proctor approaches the fallen genin, and looks to the side as Sasuke sits up ragged.

"The winner of the first match, Uchiha Sasuke has passed the prelims!"

Hinata doesn't stop the growing, proud smile.

* * *

Hai guys *V*... please refrain from killing me. I actually wrote out this entire chapter at one point, absolutely hated it, then rewrote it, and this is what you get. Happy?

I'm super super sorry that I haven't updated in forever (I promised myself I wouldn't be that kind of author to disappear for months on end! ; A;) but school and marching band got in the way... a lot. So yeah.

On a side note, when I was looking back in the earlier chapters to make sure I got my facts right, I was quite surprised to find _Shikamaru_, of all people, yell at Hayato. Wow, even he can put up the effort to be irritated, huh?

And being the horrible person I am, I might put up another crossover story (this is Shaman King/Naruto - funsies!), as well as publish some one shots here and there, since they've been collecting dust for a while now. But don't worry! I fully intend on finishing this... eventually... ^^;

Bai Bai!

- Failure-chan


	9. Chapter 9

His eyes scrutinize the overly fussy nurse, watching her fret to and fro over the comfort of her patient, asking if the pillow needs to be fluffed, because she swears that blasted thing was a brick and are you sure you don't need a thicker blanket since you're such a tiny missy that surely struggles through cold nights like these! But her ward, ever so polite, waves off the generous offers, thanking her for her consideration but really, there's no need for all of this, all the while beaming the sweetest smile. Sighing in defeat—you are a stubborn one, no doubt! Be lucky that you're too precious to say no to—the motherly employee exits the room to oversee her other charges but not before wishing the little darling a good night's rest and turning off the lights. Listening to the decrescendo of her footsteps, Gaara finally disappears from his perch on the sturdy branch heavily enshrouded with leaves and materializes with a swirl of sand by Hinata's bedside. Now inside, he silently pulls up the chair closer and, giving it a moment's thought, awkwardly shrugs off the burdensome gourd. Without the weight on his back, his shoulders feel lighter and although he doesn't hunch over, his shoulders do tend to lean forward the slightest bit carrying it around all the time—really, no one can entirely blame him when he thinks it's becoming a little cumbersome (not that anyone will _actually_ hear him say that aloud)—so its absence causes him to recline on the back of the chair with a sense of relief he has never felt before.

His line of sight never strays from the unconscious figure in front of him, not even to blink. Reflecting on it now, the red head thinks of how... abnormal this seems. But this is what friends do, yeah? Look after the other when they're feeling unwell? He's pretty sure having her internal organs severely ruptured by that heartless fiend of a cousin (he _still_ wishes he buried him when he had the chance, finalizing the fate he bestowed upon himself the second he laid a hand on her) calls for a friendly visit. Now if only she were awa—oh, look. She is.

Her luminescent eyes flutter open and once they register the boy in front of her, the faint upturn of her lips says she been expecting his arrival for a while. After some rustling, the tucked in blankets give way to her wriggling arm and her small, delicate hand peeks through. She gravitates to the marginally larger hand resting on his lap and habitually, albeit shyly, interlock their fingers—and she's happy to note the lack of resistance from his end. Despite the gesture being so commonplace amongst others, Hinata still marvels at the lovely spectacle, having never indulged in this practice enough times in the past. Both hands were rather pale, the back of Gaara's hand being coarse yet his palm is oddly smooth; her skinnier, shorter fingers are engulfed by his much larger digits. Even though the pair were unfamiliar with the concept of physical affection, the sensation is... nice and warm.

Hinata falls asleep with a miniscule smile gracing her face, as Gaara watches.

* * *

Naruto glances at the offered fruit basket once again, pondering how lucky Chouji is to have such a thoughtful friend, no matter how lazy he turns out to be. It's quite a shame, though, that the big lug can't even enjoy the present due to his upset stomach... The mischievous blond perks up at his hatching plan, a large grin splitting his face in half. Said lazy friend looks over when he doesn't say anything the past few minutes, to see Naruto has a scheming gleam in his azure eyes, and he raises an eyebrow in suspicion, "Huh? What?"

A devilish chuckle escapes from him. "We should totally eat it in front of Chouji." Oh, the expression on his face would be priceless!

"...You are tiring me out..." And Shikamaru's not even the idiot laying on the hospital bed because of chakra exhaustion. Just then, the two hear a faint sound, in a higher register so it must be a girl—maybe even someone around their age—and now that they're paying closer attention to it, it sounds somewhat like... a giggle? Now they're both intrigued. Shikamaru knows that Ino is manning the flower shop currently, so he rules out her, and it can't be Sakura either, because the only rooms she visits are Sasuke's vacant one and Rock Lee's, but both are in the opposite direction of the source. The only choice left is the only girl they know that's staying in a hospital (he still cringes thinking about _how_ she ended up here): Hinata. While the fact that it's Hinata giggling doesn't confuse him, what does confuse him is _why _is she giggling, and what—or _who_—is causing it? He passed by a sprinting Kiba and Akamaru on his way here, who shouted over his shoulder that now that Shino is participating in the finals, the active members of Team 8 are preparing his upcoming match with the Suna shinobi. That rules out her team, and he immediately rules out the entirety of the Hyuuga clan, knowing their nature is quite... cold.

Basically, everyone he knows is ruled out, which leaves the mystery unsolved.

Now, Shikamaru is not one to intervene with anyone's personal business (the effort to do so and the reprecussions of said meddling are way too troublesome in his honest opinion), but when his curiosity is piqued, coupled with the iota of worry he feels for the little kunoichi, he feels compelled to find out who this anonymous person is, and maybe even thank them for raising the girl's otherwise low spirits. With his goal in mind, he silently gestures to Naruto to follow his lead, and both slink out of the room making as little noise as possible. At each door, the brunet peeks through the slim window and peruses the interior to find a familiar girl with blue-like hair; six doors later, he peers in to see his blue-headed target with her eyes aglow with mirth and a smile lighting her countenance. He catches the motion of a pale hand nearing her face in his limited sight, and then his heart stops as he sees the wisps of sand coming closer to her fragile form.

In that instant, he doesn't think—he acts.

With a slam, the door is slid out of the way as the lackadaisical genius quickly skids in, his clan's secret jutsu reaching out to trap Gaara and prevent him moving any closer. Naruto recognizes the boy and, as per his impulsive nature, punches him in the face. Now, seeing as Shikamaru is linked to the receiver of the punch, he recoils along with the red-head. Steadying his footing, his arm reaches out to tenderly touch his face where the phantom pain radiates. "Hey Naruto, while I'm using Kagemane, I move the same as him." He looks forward to see Gaara copying his stance, and his eyes widen.

"Sorry Shikamaru..." His voice ebbs away as he faces the object of his ire, and then sees the object of his worry standing protectively in front of him.

Seeing all of the attention is on her, her face unceremoniously flushes a tomato scarlet, and in her tiny voice, she stutters out, "T-Thank you for your consideration, N-Nara-san and N-N-Naruto-kun, e-even though you two are mi-misunderstanding the situation... B-But you went out of y-your way to protect me from a p-potential enemy, which I a-appreciate g-greatly! H-However, i-it was also wrong for you to hurt Gaara-kun since he'll never hurt me... T-That is... We're friends..." Her wavering tone belies her firm stance and the fire ablaze in her eyes. Her weakened state also made her outstretched arms shake a bit due to exertion, and oh dear, she might drop in the next few seconds. But Gaara-kun is still trapped in Kagemane and she can't crumble when trying to make her point and freeing him—and knowing how stubborn those two, that would take a while. Oh dear, oh dear, she's feeling faint. "S-S-So Nara-san, can you p-please re-release Gaara-kun since he bears no i-ill will?"Oh my, she can feel her knees about to fail her, and she would so give into the urge to curse her frail and useless condition if it weren't for her heiress training forbidding her to do so.

Shikamaru analyzes the situation at hand, mulling over the pros and cons of releasing his shadow; on the one hand, the second his jutsu is released, the Suna nin can beckon his sand to encase the three of them in a cocoon of sand and end all their lives within five seconds. On the other hand, Gaara may not be as monstrously horrible his first impression made him out to be and may actually be the friend Hinata claims he is. It's not that he distrusts the girl—he has no track record of her ever lying to anyone, and doubt there will be one—but there is always the possibility that Hinata is forced into defending the creep because he would kill her if she doesn't. However, the blunette's eyes shine with the determination to protect her precious person (talk about Will of Fire) which wouldn't be present if she were coerced into doing this. And then there's Gaara... not once, not even to look at him, has Gaara's eyes strayed from Hinata. There's no sign of him wanting to kill her—or Shikamaru and Naruto for that matter, even though they are the ones holding him captive (heck, the idiot even punched him in the face earlier!)—and now that he's deeply looking into the red head's eyes (not in the really weird way that would be too troublesome to deal with) he can see a flicker of protection in the jade depths, as if he... _cares_ about Hinata's fragile state. Huh.

Moments pass and Hinata's about ready to keel over and he's pretty sure Naruto really wants to land another punch on Gaara's face, but eventually Shikamaru huffs a sigh of defeat and the shadow reluctantly recedes to its owner. Now free of its hold, Gaara immediately reaches out for Hinata, to Shikamaru's and Naruto's surprise. They are about to launch another attack on him thinking he does indeed have intentions to hurt poor Hinata, but they stop a few steps away when they realize that Gaara's arms are _cradling_ her as she slumps from fatigue. His embrace has no inkling of malicious intent at all; the way he deflects Hinata's feeble protests demanding (in a really small, kind of cute way) to let her go because she's really fine and just a bit dizzy from standing for too long with a stern, unwavering stare of what looks like friendly concern, and how he gently positions her on her bed while pulling up his chair so he can still hold her hand stuns the duo into shocked silence. Here they are, trying to save their friend thinking this guy is a menace, but it turns out there's no need to do much of anything when said guy is treating her like a princess—it's actually pretty sweet.

_'And a huge waste of time—how troublesome,' _Shikamaru sighs. Thinking back on it, his impulsive reaction earlier was pretty out of character for his lazy self... and draining. Randomly saving people when they don't need it is so troublesome. Still, from his viewpoint from outside the door, the situation did look pretty bad... "What were you doing with your sand so close to Hinata anyway, if it wasn't going to hurt her?"

The duo of weirdly-colored hair look back to the interrogator, realizing they've been ignoring Shikamaru and Naruto for a while, and Gaara replies after a moment or so of hesitation, "To make her this." He repeats the action of raising his hand, noting the sudden stiffness in their shoulders, most likely from habit, and focuses on the gathering sand. With his palm facing him, he slowly curls his hand into a fist as the sand gathers around it, and once he's done, the floating sand condensed into—

"Flowers?!" Naruto yells—oddly enough it's only the second time he's opened his mouth while in this room. "I punched you in the face thinking you were going to do that weird sand burial thingy that you did on Lee, and now we find out you're making her _flowers_?!" Shikamaru's brow also twitched a little, mentally hitting his head against the wall because he thought his friend was in danger five minutes ago (of course he would never do this overtly and show any sign of irritation because that's too troublesome and he'd rather be calm and collected rather than waste energy shouting). Instead, it turns out Gaara is really... cheesy.

"Y-Y-Y-You r-remembered?" Her cheeks flush with joy as she eyes the gift in awe. Why, it's been almost 7 years since she had that conversation with her friend about their likes and dislikes! She only has a fuzzy recollection of her tinier self telling a tinier Gaara how purple lilacs are her favorite flowers and how Gaara likes growing cacti. She remembers being putting on a rather distasteful face when her friend told her he really likes gizzard—in her defense, it sounds a bit gross. She catches his whispered comment of "I can't make them purple," before reaching out to take the sandy bouquet and she instinctively imbues a little of _that_ chakra with its flaming reds and oranges as opposed to the norm of blue into the sand and watches it heat into glass.

"Whoa! I didn't know you can do that, Hinata-chan! I can totally beat up Sasuke with that move and show him who's the true badass! Teach me, teach me!"

"Naruto, if you to learn how to make glass, go to an actual glass industry. Besides, I really doubt Hinata can teach you to heat your chakra to 2,300 degrees Celsius without getting yourself hurt." _'What I _really_ want to know is how did _she_ do that without hurting herself. Is it some hidden technique in her family—wait, they wouldn't care about that kind of__ thing. Where would she learn it then?' _He observes the lack of burns on Hinata's hands and the nonchalance emitted by Hinata and Gaara (he's curious as to how he feels so calm being in the same room of some deranged creep that was probably a murderer in Suna) which shows how commonplace this is. Maybe Gaara has given her multiple sand-based gifts in the past (that's a _really_ weird thought) and Hinata has learned this skill to preserve her gifts. Sure, that explains their indifference, but it still doesn't satisfy the question of _how_ she attained said skill. Geez, his curiosity is getting him into some troublesome business.

As Shikamaru deals with the mystery of Hinata's prowess with scorching chakra, Naruto wonders with a childlike innocence what kind of close bond the two developed. Rarely does the blond witness friends care for each other so _intimately_; Shikamaru and Chouji have a silent, almost telepathic understanding of each other, Kiba and Akamaru, while loud, really cover each other's back, which he saw that firsthand when he fought the canine duo, and even the catty Sakura and Ino show their care in a roundabout way. That's pretty much all he uses to form the foundation of his knowledge of friendship, having never experienced the feelings of a true, close connection to someone else; his rivalry with Sasuke is the closest he can get to that, even if the rival doesn't acknowledge the relationship at all. But seeing Hinata, who he knows is incredibly shy and awfully introverted, and Gaara, a killing machine with nary a hint of emotion, sitting together (or in this case, lying down and sitting next to her) absorbed in their own little world where Hinata has this healthy pink dusting across her cheek while holding a glass bouquet of whatever as she talks—in a low volume, of course—cheerfully and Gaara can lean back in his chair and nod every now and again in a way that means he's really _listening_ and not as if he is pretending he's paying attention, his expression blank as always but calm, as if in peace with himself. And the two didn't let go of their hands at all—it's like they _can't_ let go and threads are entwined between their hands to keep them there forever.

He wonders what it's like.

"How'd you two meet in the first place?"

* * *

Hehe, "duo of weirdly-colored hair".

I abused the heck out of the word troublesome.

I have never had gizzard. ^^;

I'm also going to ignore the actual, scientific process used to form glass from sand for the purposes of fluff. :D

This chapter was especially hard to write due to the infamous fight between Hinata and Neji—I had this inner debate as to how would I approach it: Would I alter it? Would I basically rewrite the entire match, but with a lot more monologues (because those are super funsies!)? Should I write it in Gaara's perspective? Should I copy my approach with my Iris one-shot and write it in Sasuke's? How about Naruto's? Should it be a flashback so I can move on to a scene I badly wanted to write? And that's when I came to the decision to scrap the idea of writing the match and instead fast forward past that, because I knew I wasn't going to do anything major with it in the first place. So I put in a lot more plot in this chapter because I knew you guys would appreciate this!

By the by, purple lilacs in the language of flowers mean first emotions of love, and in Hanakotoba (the Japanese language of flowers) lilacs represent first love. Isn't that darling~?! (Also, has anyone been reading _The Language of Flowers _by Vanessa Diffenbaugh? Ooh, I am in love with that book!)

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... Please don't kill me... School happened, marching band was killer (but it's kay because I AM A NATIONAL CHAMPION!), I actually have friends that I hang out with in the bajillion clubs I joined over the years, and I also acquired a loving boyfriend that I've been seeing for the past (almost!) 10 months.

None of that really excuses my lack of updates, and I'm sorry for that (I promised myself I'd never be that one author that updates stuff early on but leaves everyone hanging for over two years but look where I am now! TT^TT), but I'm just glad that I'm back in the writing groove for once (although I have no idea how long this will last). I WILL get around to updating Duty, and then I'm actually considering putting up a poll: in order to get stuff actually done, I may have to resort to just focusing on only one of my multi-chapter stories, so I may ask you, my fans (ooh, I have fans! That's exciting!), to decide whether you want me to finish Watch or Duty first. If you have any opinions on this decision, feel free to put them in a review or a PM.

And yes, I changed my name again because looking at it for too long will remind me how much of a weirdo I was and how depressing my self-esteem was back when I was 13 (aren't 7th grade issues the best?!). My boyfriend got me into Doctor Who, and I felt i was a good idea to incorporate my new-found love in my name (I guess you could say in my new regeneration ;D). I had adored River Song so I wanted to include that somehow, but it was taken, along with some variations. So I went with Uta since it means song in Japanese, and I realized "Wow, this also shows my passion to be a music therapist! Boy, I'm clever!" and then tada! New name created (for some strange reason, it won't save my username when I edited this thing—that's going to cause some problems)! Feel free to still call me Failure-chan, since that's what I pretty much signed off with for everything, but I just wanted to get the name out of the way.

So! I'm done! Go review, or close this tab, or whatever!

—The Doctor (wow, that's going to take some getting used to! I really like using parenthetical statements!)


	10. Not A Chapter But Read This, Dammit

You all thought this was a chapter? HA, I lied!

No, actually, I'm really sorry. So sorry, so sorry. I originally was going to upload a chapter along with this announcement, but... Fuck chapter 10. Fuck the damn plot (might have to tweak earlier chapters because seriously, what was 13 year old me fucking thinking, if at all?!) because I have no where to go. Fuck it.

Oh, I will most likely just edit a bunch of earlier chapters, so try to reread at one point. It will affect the story slightly/kind of a lot. In all actuality, this story needs a little revamping.

But anyway, I need to seriously ask this of you.

Please look at my profile page. There, you will see a poll asking you guys to decide on what story I need to focus on. The winner will receive more attention (even though I barely give my stories attention as it is, but I will attempt to focus on that more and try to hurry it along), while, sadly, the others will be put on the back burner for quite some time.

Just know that I intend to finish all of my stories. All of them. Even if it takes me years to do so. I can imagine that a lot of you are hating me right now, or are very disappointed at me for doing this, which I can understand. But in all honesty, fanfiction is not my life. Previously, it was a huge fucking deal for me and all as a lonely pre-teen who had nothing better to do, but I grew up—not a lot, since I'm still in high school and all—and now I have other priorities: school, bands (as in multiple bands that take up a majority of social life and mental/emotional energy throughout the year (marching band is a fucking cult, indoor percussion makes me want to hug everyone and stab them in their sleep simultaneously, and early morning concert band is a good time to vent about the two aforementioned groups)), my relationship (guys, I'm pretty sure none of you care, but I'VE BEEN DATING FOR OVER A YEAR SO YAY!), and... life, man.

Good thing about being older is a vastly improved writing style (in my case, considering my earlier, cringe-y stuff). Bad thing about being older is no time to exercise said writing style. Bleh.

So yeah. Sorry to do this kind of shit to you guys, because I'm sure you get enough of it from other authors/authoresses. Check the poll if you really want the story to continue. Duty, my other popular story, has an advantage because I updated that story as well as telling them to vote earlier than this one, **so if no one does anything for the rest of the month, this story may very well be put aside until the other is finished**.

Until next time,

—The Doctor


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